Scouting locations
scouting locations – Unlike other affiliations, Borg never attempt missions. Instead, they use Objective cards to scout locations. Scouting conceptually represents overcoming resistance (encountering dilemmas and Q-Flashes) and gathering data. Before you may scout a location, you must have an activated current objective that specifically allows you to scout that location. A dual-icon mission may be targeted as either a space or a planet location, but only one Borg objective may be completed at any one mission location (either single or dual-icon). Begin scouting the location as you would begin a mission attempt with non-Borg: select and beam your Away Team (of any size) to a planet, or select a ship and crew at a space mission (both at a dual-icon mission), then announce that you are scouting the location. (While an objective that allows you to scout a planet location allows you to form Away Teams for that purpose, you may also use an Away Team already on the planet by other legal means, e.g., Emergency Transporter Armbands, and they may be joined by more of your Borg.) Borg encounter and resolve dilemmas and Q-Flashes in the same way that non-Borg do during mission attempts (see dilemma resolution), subject to a few additional rules: *When your Borg are confronted with a dilemma or Q-icon card which is point related (and does not specify that it affects Borg), play out the card but ignore the points. (Discard the dilemma when you are done with it rather than placing it in your bonus point area.) If that card presents a choice, you must choose an option which is not point-related, if possible. *Discard gender-related dilemmas such as Male's Love Interest or Matriarchal Society. *Any cards which specifically require or change classifications, such as Scottish Setter, do not affect Borg. However, a dilemma which specifies a personnel type, such as OFFICER, without specifying classification or skill, will affect the Borg normally. *Dilemma text such as “Abandon mission attempt...” or “Mission may not be attempted” does not affect Borg. Ignore such text, and discard the dilemma if it is wholly inapplicable. However, “Mission continues” means “Scouting continues” for Borg. When Borg are scouting a location, any artifacts encountered there are moved to the back of the seed stack as usual. The Borg must complete an objective that allowed scouting of that location before the Survey Drone can acquire any artifact(s) present. (Picard’s Artificial Heart is acquired by its owner upon completion of scouting. At a dual-icon mission, space-permissible artifacts may be acquired upon completion of a space objective; planet artifacts may be acquired only after completion of a planet objective.) If you have no Survey Drone on the planet (or aboard a ship at a space location) when you complete the objective, the artifacts are placed face up on the mission and may be acquired later by your Survey Drone or by any non-Borg Affiliation personnel present. (However, the Survey Drone may not beam down to a planet without a card allowing him to do so. Once the objective is complete, it no longer allows scouts to beam to the planet.) Cards seeded like artifacts (e.g., seeded personnel) are acquired in the same way as artifacts. Like mission attempts, a scouting attempt is one action that may not be interrupted (except by valid responses to dilemmas or Q-icon cards and by actions that suspend play), and may not be aborted unless the entire Away Team or crew is “stopped” or removed from the location. After a scouting attempt is over (whether scouting is complete or not), your “unstopped” Borg are free to beam back up to the ship if desired, or remain to acquire artifacts, if any, when the objective is completed. If an objective requires that you have Borg or a counterpart “there” or “at that location” to probe, they need not be on the planet. Scouting a location is complete when your turn ends if you have scouted it at least once, and no dilemmas or Q-Flashes remain to be encountered, even if no Borg remain or if they are “stopped” by the last dilemma. (A dilemma that has entered play, such as Friendly Fire or Cytherians, no longer remains to be encountered, and so does not prevent scouting from being complete.) Completion of scouting is permanent. Addition of a seed card (such as a Q-Flash, using Beware of Q) after scouting is complete has no effect on that status. Your Borg must complete scouting before you may probe to determine your current objective’s outcome. You may not probe on the same turn in which you completed scouting (except with Service the Collective). You also may not probe if your Borg participated in any battles at the targeted location during your current turn or during your opponent’s previous turn. Probing takes place at the end of your turn. When an objective calls for scouting a mission location, you must scout even if there are no dilemmas remaining when you begin scouting (because none were seeded, or your opponent cleared them during a mission attempt). In other words, you must bring one scout to a planet mission, or bring a ship and crew to a space mission, and announce that you are scouting that location. When that turn ends, scouting is complete. When an objective requires you to target a mission “if not yet scouted,” it must be a mission which neither you nor your Borg opponent has completed scouting. The absence of dilemmas for other reasons (such as a non-Borg opponent attempting the mission) does not mean the mission has been scouted. If your opponent completes scouting a mission after you have targeted it, it does not discard your objective. An objective that allows you to scout a location requires you to complete scouting for that objective in order to probe to complete it. For example, if you scout a mission with Establish Gateway and resolve all dilemmas, then switch to another objective by downloading A Change of Plans in place of your normal card draw at the end of your turn, scouting is complete at the end of that turn for Establish Gateway, but not for the new objective. You must scout the mission again before scouting is complete for the new objective.